Vassilis E. Koliatsos, M.D.

Professor of Pathology

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Background

Dr. Vassilis Koliatsos is a professor of pathology, neurology and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His primary research interest is the mechanisms of traumatic and degenerative brain injury and repair.

He earned his M.D. from the University of Athens Medical School in Greece. He completed a residency in internal medicine and neurology at Crete Naval Hospital, a psychiatry fellowship at University of Athens Medical School, and a neurology fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Franklin Square Hospital, followed by a residency in psychiatry at Sheppard Pratt Hospital.

Research & Publications

Research Summary

Dr. Koliatsos’ research focuses primarily on the mechanisms of traumatic and degenerative brain injury and repair.

He approaches these problems pathophysiologically, seeking to understand how a normal physiological process when working improperly can cause certain neurodegenerative disease. For instance, programmed cell death is a pivotal developmental mechanism for organism and organ formation, but excessive cell death signaling can cause neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Previous work in his lab characterized a number of neurotrophic peptides for key populations of neurons in the brain and spinal cord and also demonstrated the role of programmed cell death in an index neurodegenerative disorder like Huntington’s disease.

More recently, Dr. Koliatsos has studied cellular therapies for degenerative and traumatic diseases of the nervous system. His team has worked on several lines of neural stem cells and have recently published pivotal studies showing efficacy of stem cell grafts in animal models of ALS. The purpose of his current work is to apply some of the lessons from this research to neocortical and limbic circuits implicated in memory and complex behaviors. To this effect, he is characterizing the role of small GABAergic cortical interneurons that serve as sensors of injury and may be actively engaged in both scavenging injured pyramidal neurons and laying the groundwork for ongoing cueing of neurons that emerge from existing neurogenic niches of the adult brain.

Lab

The Koliatsos lab focuses on cellular therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injuries. His team is characterizing the role of small GABAergic cortical interneurons, neurons that serve as sensors of injury, but may also scavenge injured neurons and cue adult stem cells in the brain. Using a mouse model of brain blast injury, Koliatsos studies immediate brain circuit disruption and chronic neurodegenerative side effects, as well as develops therapeutic strategies to prevent or repair damage. The group has successfully used neural stem cells to create grafts in animal models of ALS and spinal cord injury, too.